City of Brass

Madonna is studying the Qur’an

Madonna posted this photo to her Facebook page with the caption, “The Revolution of Love is on…Inshallah”

I am surprised no one else caught this – From an “Ask Me Anything” (AMA) on Reddit, pop queen Madonna let this interesting tidbit drop:

This seems to be a natural progression for her. Her early music was heavily influenced by her Catholic upbringing, and in recent years she famously studied Kabbalah (Jewish mysticism, analogous to Islamic Sufism). Her life is indeed a mystery. The photo from her Facebook account above, where she wears a chain-mail niqab, suggests her motives and attitude towards Islam remain… veiled. Maybe we can start calling her the Immaterial Girl?

is ISIS Islamic? Wrong question.There is an excellent longform essay on ISIS published in The Atlantic, "What does ISIS Really Want?" that lays out an excellent case fore ISIS being genuinely different in ideology, motivation and ethos than Al Qaeda. The real question boils down to, is ISIS "Islamic" or not - and makes an excellen

The Price of ExtremismThis is a guest post by Durriya Badani.
The execution style murder of three young North Carolina students, two of whom were hijab wearing Muslim women, raises questions regarding the rise of Islamaphobia in the United States in the form of hate crimes. Some will argue that the motive for the inc

Can atheism drive someone to murder? #muslimlivesmatter #chapelhillshootingLike everyone else, I am in shock at the horrible tragedy in North Carolina last night, where three young Muslim Americans were brutally executed. The police are investigating and the murderer is in custody and cooperating. The family of the victims will hold a press conference soon, until then I am

Halal Italian and Mexican catering in ChicagoThis is a guest post by Whitney Gaspar.
I am not Muslim. I am not any religion, really. I was baptized as a Catholic to please my grandma and raised as an atheist by my mother. I am spiritual and I believe in God. But that is not why I eat halal. I eat halal because it is logical. It simpl

About City of Brass

City of Brass by Aziz Poonawalla approaches issues from the perspective of a Muslim of the West. Aziz, a member of the Dawoodi Bohra Muslim community, has been blogging since early 2003 and co-founded the Brass Crescent Awards for the muslim blogsphere.